Windmill



(No Model.) 3 Shets-Shfifit 1.

J. Q. ADAMS. WINDMILL.

N0. 454',196. I Patented June 16,1891.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2. J. Q. ADAMS. WINDMILL.

No. 454,196. Patented June 16,1891.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

J. Q. ADAMS. WINDM'ILL.

Patented June 16,1891.

j M m..; .i

.72: 7122. Qlda "16 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN Q. ADAMS, OF MARSEILLES, ILLINOIS.

WINDMILL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 454,196, dated June 16,1891.

Application filed October 7, 1889. Serial No. 326,161. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN Q. ADAMS, a citizen of the United States, andresiding at Warseilles, in the county of La Salle and State of Illinois,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in IVindmills, whichare fully set forth in the following specification, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents an elevationof a windmill embodying my present improvements, the tower and someother parts being broken away; Fig. 2, a plan section of the same, takenon the line 1 l of Fig]; Fig. 3,avertical section taken on the line 2 2of Fig. 1; Fig. 4, a detail vertical section taken on the line 3 3 ofFig. 2; Fig. 5, an elevation of the springshaft detached; Fig. 6, abottom plan of the spring and its casing; Fig. 7, a detail plan of thebracket on which the spring is mounted, and Fig. 8 a perspective of thebrake-lever and brake detached.

My invention relates to that class of windmills generally known assolid-wheel mills. In this class of mills provision is made for turningthe wheel out of wind when a certain degree of wind force is reached. Ayielding resistance mechanism is employed, which holds the wind-wheelshaft and vane in line under ordinary circumstances and holds the wheelto the wind up to a certain degree of wind force operating in thecontrary direction to turn it out of wind. A device now largely used forthis purpose is a coiled spring, and my present improvements relate tothe mounting and regulating of this spring, and also to a brake deviceconnected therewith, so as to be applied by the operation of the latterwhen the wheel is turned out of wind.

I will proceed to describe in detail one way in which I have carried outmy invention in practical form, and will then point out definitely inclaims the improvements which I believe to be new and wish to secure byLetters Patent.

In the drawings, A represents the upper part of the tower, from whichrises a post a. The wheel-frame or bed-piece Bis pivoted at its rear endto this post, while at its front end is the solid wheel B on a shaft I),mounted in suitable bearings on the bed-piece. The rudder-vane O is alsopivoted to the upright post by means of a forked bracket 0, the upperbranch of which surrounds the post near its upper end, as seen in Fig. 1of the drawings, while the lower branch is similarly connected to thelower end of the post. This lower portion of the bracket is enlarged atthe rear of the post to form a sector 0. A side vane D is rigidlyattached to the bed-piece B between the wheel and the post, to which thebed is hinged. A bracket F. is rigidly fastened to the inner end orhinge portion of the wheelframe or bed B. This bracket is thereforebelow the lower pivot of the rudder-vane and extends out horizontally atthe side of the mill opposite to that 011 which the side vane islocated. On the outer end of this stationary bracket is mounted acircular case F, which is closed at the top and open at the bottom andfrom the top of which rises a short central boss or hub f, which isperforated for the purpose of mounting.

A shaft G is constructed as follows: At one end there is a section g,adapted to enter the perforation in the hub or boss of the case, thisbeing the upper end of the shaft when it is set in place. Just belowthis section is a section g, Very considerablyenlarged. Immediatelybelow this is a section 9 about the same size as it may be a littlelarger, and immediately below this and at the extreme lower end is asection 9 cut away a little more than g and made square or angular incross-section. This shaft is bored or perforated throughout its entirelength to receive the fastening bolt or pin I-I, having a small head itat one end and a threaded section 71. at the other end, being longerthan the shaft G. The outer end of the bracket E is provided with aperforation e, which is adapted to receive the section 9 of the shaft G,and upon the upper face of the bracket there is a circle of serrationse, surrounding the opening.

The casing is mounted 011 the bracket, as follows: The shaft G is set inthe hole 6 of the bracket, the enlargement or collar g resting upon thebracket and being serrated on its under side to correspond with andengage with the serrations on the bracket. The casing sits upon theupper portion of the shaft, the upper end of which is received in thehub and the enlargement or collar 9 of which supports the case in part.A spider-wrench I, having socketed arms 1', is applied to the lower endof the shaft, being provided with a central angular opening '1', adaptedto fit upon the angular lower end of the shaft G. The bolt or pin Hpasses down from the top of the case-hub through the shaft G, from thelower end of which it projects to receive a nut J. The relativearrangement of these parts is shown in Fig. i of the drawings, and whenthe nut is turned up upon the lower end of the fastening-bolt it isevident that the serrated faces of the bracket and the shaft will bedrawn into engagement, so that the shaft will be firmly held inposition; but upon loosening the nut the parts maybe disengagedsufficiently to permit the shaft to be turned into any other positiondesired by means of the wrench I, a suitable pin or pins being insertedin the sockets of this wrench for the purpose. A spring K is coiledwithin the case 1*, the outer end being fastened to the inside of therim of the case and the inner end fastened to the enlargement or collarg on the shaft G, as seen in Fig. 6 of the drawings. A cord or chain Lis fastened at one end to the outer rim of the spring-ease, and at theouter end to the sector 0 preferably a flange f is raised from the topof the spring-case to provide an attachment for the chain and bring itin the same plane with the sector. Alug 0 depends from the underside ofthe sector, and a spring-stop M is fixed on the bracket E to engage thislug, being arranged so that when these two parts are in contact thewheel-shaft and rudder-vane will be in line, or substantially so. Itwill be seen from this description that the ease within which the springis placed is left free to turn on the shaft G, and that the spring actsalways to turn this case, so as to bring a strain through the chain uponthe sector to hold the latter in the position just described, and sokeep the wheel-shaft and rudder directly in line. This is the usualaction of springs used for this purpose, and its action is also the sameas usual when the force of the wind becomes so great as to overcome theeffect of the spring by means of the side vane, so as to turn the wheelout of windthat is, the force of the spring will act constantly inopposition to the side vane, and as soon as the velocity of the winddecreases sufficiently, the spring will bring the wheel back into windagain, this being accomplished, of course, when the velocity of the winddecreases to that point where force exerted upon the side vane is lessthan the force of the spring acting in opposition.

The tension of the spring is easily regulated by means of the mountingdevices described above, for it is evident that when the shaft G isturned by the wrench in one direction or the other, the spring istightened up or'rclaxed according to the direction in which the shaft isturned, and when the proper position is obtained for the tension desiredit is fixed by means of the serrated faces, as already mentioned. Itwill be seen that the spring is mounted horizontally, and is close tothe sector upon which it is to act, and about in the same horizontalplane as the latter. This arrangement is very compact and brings theparts into such relation to each as to secure the most efficient andsensitive work from the spring.

At the back of the wind-wheel is a small circular rim or flange Z),fastened to the spider of the wheel and concentric therewith. Ahorizontal bell-crank lever N is pivoted to a lug or projection b at oneside of the bed or frame B. The inner arm of this lever extends outwardtoward the wind-wheel within the rim 1), and has fastened to it abrake-shoe n, which is adapted to fit the inside of the rim. The otheror outer end of the lever is connected by a rod 0 to a pin f on the topof the case F, this end of the rod having a slot 0 to receive the pin,which is loose enough in the slot to move freely back and forth therein.It will be seen from this description that when the wheel is turned outof wind, the pin will move in the slot to the outer end of the rod, andthe slot is made of such length that just as the wheel comes edgewise tothe wind the pin will strike at the outer end and at once vibrate thelever N and apply the brake, so as to hold the wheel perfectly stillwhen in this position. As the wheel is turned into wind again, the brakewill be released by the rotation of the case under the influence of thespring, and the pin will move toward the other or inner end of the slot,the latter being of such length in this direction that when the wheelcomes full face to the wind the pin will strike at this inner end of theslot and throw the brake entirely clear from the flange b, so that therewill be no impediment to the revolution of the wheel. In order to securethe proper adjustment of the slotted rod to the pin, the former isconnected to the brake-lever by means of an eyebolt 0, having a longshank which is threaded. This shank passes through the end of thebrake-lever, and on each side of the latter is a nut 0 by means of whichthe eyebolt may be adjusted back and forth in the lever and so adjustthe rod accurately to the pin on the spring-case, so that the latterwill engage with the respective ends of the slot at just the proper timeto effect the operation described above. It will be seen that theslotted rod and pin permit the spring-case to oscillate as the positionof the wheel is varied under the action of the wind when at work withoutapplying the brake or affecting it at all until it is desired to throwthe wheel entirely out of the wind for the suspension of work.

Changes may be made in some of the devices described above, and I do nottherefore wish to be understood as limiting my invention to the precisedetails of construction in all parts, as herein shown and described.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The hinged wheel-frame or bed-piece, in combination with the hingedrudder-vane, the sector connected to the rudder-vane, the coiled springand the pivoted case within which it is mounted, arranged insubstantially the same horizontal plane as the sector, and the chain orcable connecting the sector and the spring-case, substantially as andfor the purposes specified.

2. The hinged bed-piece B, in combination with the wind-wheel B, mountedthereon, the hinged rudder-vane 0, provided with the sector c the sideVane D, the horizontal bracket E, secured to the bed-piece B, thespring-case F, pivoted on the outer end of the bracket E, the spring K,coiled within the case, and the chain L, connecting the sector and case,substantially as and for the purposes specified.

3. The bracket E, fastenedto the bedpiece on which the wind-wheel ismounted, perforated at its outer end and provided with serrations e, incombination with the shaft G, having the enlarged central portion gserrated on its lower face, the spring-case F, mounted loosely on saidshaft, the spring K, coiled within the case and attached,respect ively,to the latter and the shaft G, the pin or bolt H, the nut J, and a chainconnecting the spring-case to a sector on the rudder-vane,Isiulst-antially as and for the purposes speci- 4. The bracket E,provided with the hole e and serrations e, in combination with the shaftG, composed of the sections g, g, g and g and having serrations on theunder face of g, the spring-case F, mounted loosely on the upper end ofsaid shaft, the spring K, coiled within the case and fastened,respectively, to 0 brought into wind, substantially as and for thepurposes specified.

6. The wind-wheel 13, provided With a brake=flange b", in combinationwith the brake-lever N, the spring-case F, the slotted lever O, theeyebolt 0, adjustable in the brake-lever, and the hinged rudder-vane,sub stantially as and for the purposes specified.

'7. The wind-wheel B, provided with the rim or flange b, in combinationwith the hinged bed-piece B, on which it is mounted, the hingedrudder-vane, the pivoted springcase F, mounted on a support connected tothe bed-piece, a chain connecting the spring-case with the rudder-vane,the bell-crank lever N, pivoted to the bed-piece, the brake n, and theslotted rod. 0, connecting the lever to the spring-case, substantiallyas and for the purposes specified.

JOHN Q. ADAMS. Witnesses:

H. R. ADAMS, F. T. NEFF.

